Page 64 of A Conflict of Interest

“Ah… indeed, she, uh, she totally did. Actually, she mostly just insulted you. Which is worse,” I said, dropping my posture. “I gave her a stern talking to and she said to go find someone who was worthy of my two good traits.”

“Cooking and cleaning?”

“It’s like you know her…”

She laughed. “She’s right that I’m a dirty rascal… attempting to court a princess, and that that’s quite a level of audacity. But I’ve always been audacious. So… your highness. Let’s go talk to Matthew Gould, because I’ve been telling him how you’ve been sharing your project progress with me and how well you’ve been doing, and he’s excited to see it for himself.”

She was so good to me. Too good to me, actually. I was deeply spoiled.

But… something to be said for the fact that she was doing this to help prove I was worthy of taking seriously and notto baby. And that maybe I’d change for the better from being around her, too.

I knew things that seemed too good to be true usually were. But maybe this one wasn’t? Maybe?

I’d always been naïvely optimistic, after all.

Chapter 18

Kelcey

Veronica watched me from where she lay in bed as I adjusted my outfit, absolutely glowing in the mirror, picking out my earrings carefully, and I made eye contact with her in the mirror.

“What do you think?” I said. “Ready for modern capitalism?”

“You look sharp,” she said, a lazy smile on her face, tossing back a loose strand of hair. “Very professional… I like the soft contouring look.”

“Office chic?”

“Office chic,” she laughed. “Ah. I don’t know what I’ll do with my days now that you’re going to be at the office working a regular nine-to-five again. Do I have to get a life now?”

I snorted, tossing Georg the stuffed reindeer at her. “You rest, for god’s sake, woman. You’ve been working overtime the past few days getting this project done just to get me in everyone’s good favor again. Go take a nap or something. You love sleep.”

“I do,” she laughed, propping herself up on her elbow and taking Georg and hugging him close to her chest, looking so unbearably cute like that, lying rumpled in my bed in the morning holding a goofy little reindeer. I was tempted to quit my job right after getting it back just so I could stay here and cuddle her. “Well,” she said, “maybe I’ll see about getting to my ownwork and find out if there’s a way to make Danielson less mad at me for the whole stunt. Or maybe I’ll pick up something new. Could do with a career change.”

“My little nomad,” I laughed, and I walked across the room to give her a quick kiss before I straightened again, adjusting my blazer. “Veronica?”

She flushed, just a little, a tiny peek of color at the edges of her cheeks, in that way she did whenever I said her name, which was literally the cutest thing ever. “Yeah?”

“Thank you. For your help. It means a lot. Well—” I took a long breath, puffing my chest out. “I’m off to the office. Want me to pick up anything while I’m out?”

She smiled into the corners of her eyes. “Nah… I’ll take care of it. I’ll make sure you have a cake waiting for you here when you get back to celebrate. Preferences on what kind?”

I put my hands on my hips. “Veronica! You don’t need to buy me a cake.”

“Preferences on what kind?”

I hunched my shoulders. “Chocolate.”

“Chocolate it is. Good luck at work today, beautiful. You’ll crush it.”

If Veronica Preston thought I could, then I would. I wasn’t about to go letting down Veronica Preston, was I? Absolutely not.

The drive to the office was slow as it always had been, but I kind of liked it—a chance to put on some music and sing along, getting my mind out of home mode and into work mode. Pulling into the parking garage by the warm light of early morning, it was more nostalgic than it should have been for something only a week and a half ago.

Gloria at reception beamed at me when I got into the department. “Oh, Kelcey. Long time no see.”

“I know, right? I missed seeing you work your way through your big fuzzy sweaters for the week. How’s the cat?”

“Oh, Pearl is doing wonderfully, thank you. I’ll tell her Kelcey said hi. Anna and Lucy are in their office, they asked me to send you their way once you got in.”

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